The future plans of Team India’s veterans, which include players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar following the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022, have not been discussed with them, according to the chief selector Chetan Sharma, who made this revelation on Monday (October 31).
The selection committee, on Monday, announced India's squad for the T20I leg of the New Zealand tour, post the ongoing marquee event. Several players including Rohit, Kohli, Bhuvneshwar, and R Ashwin have been rested for the tour.
According to Chetan Sharma, he won't talk about anything while the T20 World Cup is still being played and added that if players have anything on their minds about their future, they would go to the management and selectors themselves.
"In the middle of the tournament, how do you expect the chairman of selectors to speak to somebody? I shouldn't be speaking to anyone (about their future) in the middle of the tournament. They are such big players, if they are getting to understand something, they themselves will come and talk to us," Sharma said while speaking to the press during a virtual media conference on Monday after the teams for the upcoming New Zealand and Bangladesh tours were announced.
"The players you mentioned, if they are part of the team, the youngsters will get to learn a lot from them. I can see how the youngsters are getting to learn and train from these big players. They ask the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma how to handle certain situations, how to prepare.
"So, in the middle of the tournament, I can't talk to them about these things," he added.
The former cricketer-turned-selector said that if one can consistently perform at the highest level, age is just a number and that the selectors would be pleased to pick players with experience.
"The doors of cricket will never be closed to anyone. Age is just a number if you are competing. If you are good enough to perform and get runs, selectors are more than happy to pick experienced players," he added.
Dinesh Karthik was not named for the T20I team for the New Zealand tour, but the 56-year-old stated that the veteran wicketkeeper batter would still be taken into consideration for selection in the shortest format after the ongoing major event.
Squad for NZ T20Is: Hardik Pandya (C), Rishabh Pant (vc & wk), Shubman Gill, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson (wk), W Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umran Malik.
(INDIA TODAY INPUTS)
